The deliberations of the Second Urban Design Panel took place on Wednesday May 9 at City Hall.

Synopsis: Although there is high praise for the site plan and James Cheng’s architectural firm and associates, there remains fundamental concerns about the high density of the site, with regard to traffic and transit flow in and around the site. These concerns were voiced by the engineer in the Urban Design Panel. The quality and number of replacement social housing units were also of concern, and discussed.

Here’s the back story.

Two years ago, the Design Panel reviewed the Site plans for Little Mountain — schematic diagrams showing the placement of major roadways and access points onto the site, and general areas of open space and building masses. See the footage go to littlemountainproject.com ARCHIVE and open Meeting #14.

Last week on May 9, this meeting touched upon all of those issues, including height and density. For those of you who have attended the last few Advisory Group meetings, you will have heard the city’s perspective already, though it has undergone further refinement. Ideal density according to the City of Vancouver Planning department (see Meeting #29) is now seen to be somewhere between Arbutus Walk (see Archive Meeting #15)and Olympic Village. (Meeting #6 – The Olympic Village Tour)
They present this to the Panel.

TO THINK ABOUT:
IN THE URBAN DESIGN PANEL MEETINGS, THE COMMUNITY (the public) DOES NOT HAVE A VOICE.

The role of the Urban Design Panel is to give impartial and professional advice to the Director of Planning, Development Permit Board or City Council on any proposal or policy affecting the community’s physical environment. The Panel is strictly an advisory body and makes recommendations only. It does not have the authority to approve or refuse projects or make policy decisions. The public is welcome to attend the Urban Design Panel meeting, but may not address the Panel. The meeting will be held in the Town Hall Meeting Room (City Hall, main building, 1st Floor, 453 West 12th Avenue). Little Mountain is the fifth item on the agenda and is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.